Moldova gay bashing victim granted EU asylum after police brutality

Gay bashing is not just a Moldovan occurrence, but in Moldova the violence to gays is done by the country's police. (File photo)

GLASGOW (Tiraspol Times) - A British judge has documented evidence of police beatings and general prejudice against gays in Moldova, and has ruled that it is unsafe for a Moldovan gay bashing victim to return to his native country. According to the court, being homosexual today in Moldova is in some cases life-threatening due to assaults carried out against homosexuals by Moldovan law enforcement.

In a written ruling, judge Colin MacAulay QC allowed a Moldovan asylum seeker to stay in Great Britain because to return to Moldova would put his life in danger for being gay.

Describing the case of Andrei Ivanov, a homosexual man from Moldova, the judge wrote that: "He was assaulted by the police and told to leave town, otherwise he would be killed and his house would be burned down."

Andrei Ivanov, 24, fled his native Moldova after police in the country attacked him, left him bleeding on the ground, and informed him that they would kill him the next time. Following the beatings and death threats, the victim of gay bashing by police was forced to flee to the West to save his life.

Death threats after holding hands

Ivanov testified to the Court of Session on 31 January 2008 that he had originally kept his sexuality secret until he formed a relationship with a man called Vladimir. They were seen by police when they went into a shop together, holding hands.

Police there beat him up after he was seen holding hands with another man. He also received death threats.

After being warned his home would be torched, he fled and was smuggled into Britain in the back of a truck. Today he lives as a refugee from gay discrimination in a tower block in Glasgow. The grant of EU asylum

" - As a gay man myself, I know how hard it is to live here in Moldova," says a Chisinau-resident who asked to be identified only as L.B. "We are constantly afraid of someone finding out. If they do, we can get beat up and humiliated by the authorities. Last year, two policemen urinated on me while a third held me down on the ground with his boot."

Other minority groups have also been persecuted in Moldova. When the country sought independence from the Soviet Union in 1990 and 1991, a common slogan by the majority Popular Front movement that dominated parliament was: "Russians - Suitcase - Trainstation." Some members of the ethnic Russian minority were beaten, and in extreme cases killed as well. Others moved across the Dniester river to Transdniestria, where Russian-speaking Slavs constitute a majority of the population.

European Union notes Transdniestria openness

As one of the most repressive countries in Europe for the LGBT community, the Communist ruled Republic of Moldova does not allow any public display of homosexuality or alternative sexual lifestyles. Last year, authorities in the capital of Chisinau banned a proposed Gay Pride event. Organizers of the march faced arrest by police.

" - But what is even worse than gay bashing is that in Moldova, police are active participants in gay bashing, so we have no where to turn for protection" says L.B., "In other countries, gay bashing is a crime and police are tasked with protecting the victims and bringing the gay bashers to justice. But in Moldova it is the opposite: Police themselves form groups who systematically attack gays with impunity."

Unlike Moldova, no gay bashing has been reported from Tiraspol or other key cities in 'de facto' independent Transdniestria (Pridnestrovie). The unrecognized country offered its capital city as an alternative venue for last year's Gay Pride and the Transdniestrian Constitution forbids discrimination on grounds of sexuality, race, religion, nationality, politics or membership of a social group.

Since 2006, Transdniestria has protected the rights of gays and lesbians better than Moldova, and in December of that year a European Union parliamentary group noted that "we have found Transnistria to exhibit a higher level of openness and tolerance on issues of gay and lesbian rights" as compared to the increasingly repressive situation within Moldova.

See also:
» No pride in Moldova; gay event attacked by homophobic mob
» EU Parliament group slams Moldova over gay crackdown; praises PMR
» Tiraspol welcomes gays banned from marching in Chisinau, Moldova